Unexpected Consequences
by Lucario2012
Summary: Luke Ward buys a copy of Pokemon Black that turns out to be a bit more than he bargained for... Now he must struggle against the likes of Team Plasma and The Admins, with only a few friends by his side. Oh, and he has to defeat Pokemon League Champion Alder to have even a chance of getting home. Shouldn't be that hard. TFs in later chapters.
1. Enter Luke

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, if I did, Black and White 2 would have been out a lot sooner._**

**_My first story, please R&R, if you don't review, thats ok as long as you read it and (hopefully) enjoy it._**

**_Rule of Thumb for reviews:_**

**_Positive reviews = Great!_**

**_Constructive Critics = OK_**

**_Flames = you're going to be seeing a lot more of those where you're headed, jerk._**

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

**Unexpected Consequences**

Chapter 1: Enter Luke

"Luke!"

The 12-year-old looked away from punching his little brother Leo for a second and immediately regretted it. That little 8-year-old might not look like much, but when he hit you, you can feel it. A lot.

"Yeah Mom?"

"Stop hitting Leo or I'll drive back to the hotel right now and _neither _of you will get your new games!"

Luke quickly stopped hitting his little brother and stared out the window instead. They are only in New York for one more day and there is no way he was going to miss his chance again. Some things were even more important than payback, even if the little jerk had cheated earlier by using a LV 100 Arceus when they had both agreed not to use legendaries._ "Besides"_ he thought to himself as he watched the buildings race by, _"She didn't say anything about later..."_

Luke was an average 12-year-old with short brown hair and brown eyes, which his little brother Leo (Whose full name was Leopold) will probably never stop teasing him about from the time he slipped in the mud and, as Leo put it, 'Blended in perfectly' even after he'd wiped the mud out of his face. He was also around a head taller than Leo, who was the most annoying little brother in existence. Leo teased him about everything. His hair and eyes, his actual name which was Lycaon, (Come on, who names their kids Lycaon and Leopold?), even the fact that he liked Pokemon, which his "mature" little brother said he should have grown out of by now.

Leo had dirty-blonde hair, green eyes, and was able to both annoy and pulverize kids up to twice his age. (He had, on one memorable occasion, knocked out a 16-year-old who tried to steal his bag and throw it in the gutter. The teenager later left the school because he was getting so much abuse about letting an 8-year-old KO him.) He was also able to beat Luke in Pokemon any time they played, but only because he cheated by using things like the LV 100 Arceus and cheats from his Action Replay cheat card.

"Luke!"

Luke woke up with a start, having not even realized that he had fallen asleep, and looked out at the shop looming above him as he got out of the car. Although maybe 'shop' wasn't the right word. Calling the building before them a 'shop' would be like calling the Titanic a 'boat'. It was technically true, but it just didn't get across the sheer size of the place.

'_My whole house back home could fit into this one room' _thought Luke as he walked inside. There was quite literally every toy he could think of arrayed before him, from Power Rangers to Transformers, from Lego to Meccano, and many more besides. And that was just the first floor. He and Leo exchanged awed glances. Then, as if by some telepathic signal, they both dashed as fast as they could up the stairs to the video games section, where the eagerly anticipated Pokemon Black and White awaited them.

They both knew that whoever got there first would get to decide which of them got which game, since their mom would _never_ let them get 2 of the same game in a million years. Luck didn't seem to be with Luke, for as soon as he reached the DS section, he tripped on the loose corner of a tile and went flying. Leo either didn't notice or didn't care,(Probably the latter) since he was still sprinting just as fast towards the shelf with Black & White on it.

'_No…'_ thought Luke as his little brother reached the shelf, and triumphantly returned holding his copy of Pokemon White close to his chest, as if it might suddenly jump away from him. He got to his feet dejectedly as Leo waved the game at him.

"Ha ha, I got there faster than you!" teased Leo, while Luke was desperately scouring the shelves for a copy of Pokemon Black. "Come on, Come on, there has to be one somewhere!" Said Luke to himself as his panic mounted. "There just has to be..."

His sentence trailed off as he reached the end of the DS section. He stared blankly for a while. Then, with the slow, shuffling walk of people about to be executed, he made his way to the checkout. "Can I help you?" asked the ever-cheery cashier. "Not unless you have a copy of Pokemon Black thats not on the shelves." Luke said dejectedly. He was not expecting the answer he received in reply. The cashier looked around, leaned in close, and whispered, "As a matter of fact, there is one, but I should warn you, it might not work. When it was being made, the factory got hit by lightning. This is the only game left of the affected batch. We aren't supposed to sell them without warning people about it first to stop people trying to sue us for faulty goods, so it comes at half price. Do you still want it?"

Luke had stopped listening after she had said that there was one left. By this point, he probably would have bought one if it had come with a lit stick of dynamite attached. He nodded dumbly with a grin spreading across his face. He wouldn't have to go home without one after all!

* * *

Later, back at the hotel, Luke was just starting his game. Leo's jaw had hit the floor when he saw that Luke had gotten a half-price copy, and had then tried to give him spoilers about it, because he had brought his DSi with him, (Luke's had been back at the hotel, charging) but Luke had just ignored him by listening to "Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce at full volume on his iPod. Now, finally, he was able to play it. He was about to watch the opening sequence but his DSi slipped and when he picked it back up, he accidentally pressed the A button, skipping the rest of the opening.

_'Damn'_ Thought Luke, as a massive white dragon with blue eyes, claws on its wings and a conical tail that appeared to be on fire. _'That's gotta be Reshiram.' _He thought as he watched the screen rotate around it. He pressed the A button, and it zoomed in on Reshirams head and played a truly awesome roar that could only be Reshiram's. He pressed 'New Game' and was about to see who the 5th gen professor was, but his mom was calling him for dinner. _"Damn. I'll just have to wait."_ He graned inwardly as he put his DSi away. _"And endure another hour and a half of Leo trying to give me spoilers..."_

When he walking towards his room door, he failed to notice that his DSi was glowing a dark purple as he closed the door, or the fact that it seems to be pulsing...

* * *

2 hours later, and he had somehow managed to avoid all spoilers by a quick lie that since they were different versions, there could easily be different storylines, which only shut Leo up because he didn't want to do it if it wouldn't spoil the game for Luke.

He finally got back to his room, jumped on his bed, and opened the DSi again. Immediately he noticed a slight difference. The graphics, which before had been so pixelated as to be unrecognizable, were now so sharp they looked a lot like the kind of graphics the show had. As Professor Juniper walked him through the basic concepts of Pokemon, he found himself scrutinizing the screen for any sign that it was pixelated at all and not somehow all solid areas of color. He couldn't find any, but as soon as he saw the characters, he stopped caring and realized why Leo had gaped at the screen earlier in the car.

The male character looked exactly like him, just dressed differently. Where Luke was wearing a black Dragonforce T-shirt, denim jeans, and black/orange trainers, the character (Hilbert) was wearing a blue zip-up jacket with a darker blue collar over a black-and-white shirt, a black-and-blue bag with the one strap over his opposite shoulder, black jeans tucked into his red-and-black shoes, and a red-and-white hat with a black pokeball design and brim. A massive improvement over Lucas, the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum male character, whose stupid hat had actually made Leo choose the female character (Dawn) for that game. He clicked on it, and put in his name, then confirmed it. Luke started to notice a weird feeling in the back of his head as the professor gave a final monologue, and with the words 'It's time to leap into the world of Pokemon', he blacked out.

* * *

**_AN: Their names are based on Lycaon(Ancient Greek king of wolves) and Leopold(Ancient Mythological Prince of Lions)._**

**_No wonder they don't get along._**


	2. Enter Unova

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, Nintendo does. Luke, Tom, and all other main characters so far are mine._**

**_65 hits in 2 days... I'm not sure but i think thats impressive._**

**_Fixed some grammar/formatting errors in chap 1, it now looks way better._**

**_Review responses:_**

**_Mazzyandmilk: Thanks for pointing that out, I'll do my best to avoid that in the future._**

**_Brighttail: Thanks, my thoughts exactly. =)_**

**_Now, without further ado, onto the story!_**

Chapter 2: Enter Unova

'_Oooooh…' _Thought Luke._ 'My head... What happened?'_

He tried to remember the days events. He got up to re-entering his room after dinner, but that was about it.

He frowned. _'That can't be right...'_

Suddenly, his memories came rushing back, and he sat bolt upright with a start.

He looked around, unable to believe or recognize his surroundings.

He was in a small, metal-framed bed with a mattress that looked as if the last time it had been washed was around the time the dinosaurs died. The blanket - now on the floor - was barely thicker than a sheet of paper, and by the looks of it, was about half as warm. The room he was in looked more like a prison cell than anything else, though there were no barred windows, so he couldn't be sure. The door looked like it would take an assault tank to break it down, while still managing to look like it had been paid for with a strict budget in mind.

He looked down at himself, and saw that he was wearing, not his own clothes, but the clothes he'd seen on the character he'd chosen.

'_This day just gets better and better…'_ He thought sarcastically, as he got off of the 'bed'.

Someone knocked on the door, then came in. Luke wasn't sure what he was expecting, but what he saw seemed to fill some of his expectations. Standing in the doorway was a woman who looked like an Olympic athlete - if abusing kids was suddenly turned into an Olympic event, that is.

"Hello," She said, in a voice that made it perfectly clear what would happen if she was interrupted. "I am Mrs Hemlock." _'Great', thought Luke, 'She's named after a deadly poisonous plant. Just my luck.' _He smiled inwardly. _'Glad I'm not Mr Hemlock.' _"For your information young man, my husband died 7 years ago." said Mrs. Hemlock, her voice like ice.

Luke went pale._'She's a mind reader? How is that fair?'_

"Life isn't fair and you would do well to remember it!"

Luke jumped."I'm going to have to watch what I think..." He muttered to himself.

Mrs. Hemlock gave a smile that would have put many a shark to shame.

"Yes you will, Lycaon, yes you will. Now as I was saying, I am Mrs. Hemlock. I run this facility, and while you and the other useless brats are under my roof, I expect to receive only your full cooperation. Is that clear?"

"Yes Ma'am." Said Luke, while trying to come up with a way of not letting her hear his thoughts, without letting her notice that he was trying to do so. One of these objectives was fulfilled, the other, only halfway.

"When I say full cooperation, Lycaon, that means no attempting to hide your thoughts!"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Now, I'm going to show you to the lunch hall, and then I'll let the others show you around. Understood?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Follow me then, and be quick about it! I haven't got all day!"

Luke, under cover of his idea, (imagining DragonForce songs in his head) thought, _'What, do you need to get back to making peoples lives into living hells so soon?'_

Mrs. Hemlock looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and muttered "I hate that song." under her breath.

Luke couldn't help but feel a bit of satisfaction at that, but it was soon stifled as he saw the lunch hall. Though at that point, the food fight taking place had escalated so much it was more of a battleground. Remains of what Luke assumed to be burritos, lasagne, burgers, and several other mincemeat-based-dishes strewn around the place.

Kids were running wild, covered in all kinds of sauces and food products. Luke realized with a start that most of the kids seemed to match up with various types of trainer images. The kids using their nets as catapults looked like the bug catcher type of trainer. The two kids fighting in the corner looked like a battle girl and black belt. Luke began to get a headache. He looked back at Mrs. Hemlock, and saw that her face was starting to go a strange shade of purple. Several other kids noticed this too, and their faces turned white and started to back away slowly. Luke figured he should probably do the same, and was about to start when Mrs. Hemlock took in a huge breath and bellowed "STOP THIS AT ONCE!" Immediately the hall fell silent and still, though Luke thought that might just be because his eardrums might have burst.

Mrs. Hemlock was now advancing slowly towards a kid who couldn't have been older than 10 (Though he appeared to be a miniature Ace Trainer) and looked like he was about to burst into tears at any second. All the kids around him slowly stepped away, with the looks on peoples faces ranging from pity to contempt.

Mrs. Hemlock looked _furious_. She advanced on him, drawing something Luke couldn't see from her belt, but which made the other kids gasp and back away even faster.

"You know what happens when you break the rules, now don't you Thomas?" She said, with a voice so cold it could have frozen a penguin. Thomas now looked like he was going to faint from fright at any second. Even the kids who had looked as though they didn't care earlier were starting to look worried. In the same voice, she continued, "I think that the normal punishment of a mere hour, however, isn't enough in this case. I think it should be extended to, let me think... However long it takes the rest of the kids here to clean up the _entire_ hall, don't you agree?"

Even though at that point it didn't seem possible, Thomas managed to go even paler than before, so much so that if he'd been at the North Pole, he'd have been completely invisible.

She pressed a button on the device in her hand, and a beam of light burst out of it and formed into a vaguely human shape. It then solidified into what looked like a maid with 3 long 'flaps' on either side of its head, and wearing a black-and-white dress. It didn't appear to have feet, and its hands and part of its face were pink. When it solidified, it turned to Mrs. Hemlock and said "Gothitelle Gothi?" Luke, however, also heard a quieter voice underlaid across that one saying, "Your command, mistress?"

Luke's eyes went wide. Unless he was very much mistaken, that was one of the new 5th generation Pokemon, and not only that, but he'd been able to understand it! Luke's mind reeled with what that could mean, so it was lucky for him that Mrs. Hemlocks attention was elsewhere. Namely...

"Gothitelle, I want you to take Thomas here to The Room until the others have got this place spotless. Then I want you to make sure that-"

Whatever else she was about to say was interrupted by an alarm going off.

"What? NO!" she yelled, as the fire doors swung open and all the kids ran as fast as they could for freedom. Luke was doing the same, but then he looked back and saw Thomas just standing there shivering, and before he knew it, he was running towards him.

"Come on!" Luke yelled, "We've got to get out of here!"

That seemed to jolt Thomas into life, and then they were both sprinting towards the open doors and possible freedom.

When they got outside, Luke couldn't see any of the other kids beside Thomas, as they had all run into the dense woods that surrounded the building in every direction Luke could see. Luke stopped for a moment to get his bearings, but Thomas just ran past him, yelling "I know a place we can hide, come on!"

After what he'd seen back in the 'facility', Luke had no doubts about what awaited him if he was caught, so he ran after Thomas as fast as he could, though once he hit the edge of the forest, that slowed down quite a bit.

After running for what felt like hours, Luke collapsed into a large hollow tree where Thomas was waiting for him.

"Hey" said Thomas, who looked almost as breathless as Luke felt. Luke just nodded, too exhausted by the whole running-for-his-life thing to say anything. He sat up against the inside of the trunk, and found that it wasn't as hard as he thought.

Once he caught his breath, he said "What - exactly - _was_ that place?"

"It's a place for kids who - oh screw it, you wouldn't believe me. That woman Hemlock is a total nutcase."

Luke was interested at this."What do you mean, I wouldn't believe you?"

Thomas looked at him resignedly, debating whether or not he could get away with not saying more, then shrugged.

"Well - uh - sorry, what's your name?"

"Lycaon." Luke grimaced. "But people call me Luke. And you?"

"My name is Thomas, but you can call me Tom. Well, Luke, that place was a place where kids who come from - well... other worlds... tend to end up on arrival."

Luke stared. "So did you come from another world?"

Tom grinned nervously and said "Yeah... one without any Pokemon in it. That's kinda why i freaked out when I saw that Gothitelle. It just scares me to think that something like _that_ can have so much power." He looked at Luke nervously. "...You probably think I'm nuts, don't you? I mean, to most people here, a world without Pokemon is just insane, so they think I'm insane for talking about one."

Luke's jaw had found its way down to the ground by this point.

"I don't think you're crazy." He said. "I probably came from the same world - though thats not definite, since there could be more than one world without Pokemon."

A few things clicked in his head while Tom took his turn to stare. "Wait... so this world _has_ Pokemon? More than just that Gothitelle?" Tom stared even more. "Well duh, its not like Gothitelle is the only Pokemon in existence." Luke looked at Tom in a new light.

"Did you by any chance get here by playing a video game that was struck by lightning?"

Luke cringed. "I cannot believe I just said that..."

Tom stared again. "You too? Seriously?"

"Not like I'd make it up. I'm not dumb enough to think anyone would believe it if it wasn't true."

An awkward silence fell.

Tom broke it after a while by suggesting that they both go to sleep.

Luke agreed, and the last thing to go through his mind before he fell asleep again was:

"_I wonder what'll happen tomorrow?"_

**_Yeah, as it turns out, he's had a pretty bad day._**

**_I'm just going to pre-emptively answer some questions I think might come up._**

**_Yes, the place is in the Unova region, it's on route 15, in the place of the Pokemon Transfer Lab, since it's not needed in the story. Also, I slightly changed the place, as it turns out they've ended up in Lostlorn Forest without passing over the Marvellous Bridge. Sorry about the lack of realism, I just couldn't see a way to work it in. Turns out they went North-East to a part where the river Marvellous bridge passes over is small/overgrown enough to not really notice._**


	3. Enter the OCs

**Dear God, I am sorry for the massive delay. I had, among other things, Junior Cert exams, Exchange students, trips abroad, and multiple viruses and internet/computer problems to contend with, not to mention the ever-present thorn in my side that is writers block. Almost 3 months of inactivity is a new personal low. I'll try to make them quicker and longer from now on.**

**Enough excuses though. On to the reviews. Many thanks to: Mr.001, Complete the Circuit, BloodStarGeneral, Species Unknown, Linkhammer, Tyltalis and Hazelblossom for their reviews, and Linkhammer, Tyltalis and Hazelblossom again for their OCs, who make their first appearances here. Well done.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, if I did, then Jynx, Mr, Mime, Gothitelle and their evolutionary lines would not exist. (Please do not flame based on this, it's just my opinion.)**

**So, on with the story!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Enter the OCs**

_'Since when was my bed so hard?' _was the first thought to go through Luke's mind the moment he woke up.

Then he remembered the previous days events and sat bolt upright, hitting his head off a jutting bit of bark. He slouched a bit and looked around him at the area around the tree he'd spent the night in. It was approaching noon, and Luke could see Tom a few meters away through a hole in the bark. Luke got up, more carefully this time, and walked over to Tom, who was getting a drink from a nearby stream.

"Good morning." said Tom. Luke just grunted in response and slumped at the edge of the water, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Alright, it took me awhile to wake up properly too." Said Tom, smiling at Luke's expression. "But the water's nice and cool, it'll wake you right …"

Tom trailed off in the middle of his sentence. Luke glanced over to see that Tom was staring alternately at the backs of his and Luke's right hands. Luke frowned and looked down at his hand to see what Tom was gaping at and noticed a mark that definitely hadn't been there when he'd gone to sleep last night.

It was a large black circle, with a smaller, solid black circle inside it, which itself had a circle missing from the top of it. Luke looked at Tom's hand and saw a brown circle of the same size as his but with the black outline of a clenched fist in it.

"Uh, Tom?"

Tom seemed stuck in an almost catatonic daze, staring at the back of his hand.

"Tom!"

"What? Who? Where?" Tom looked around frantically for a second before looking back at Luke.

"Oh, right, um, yeah?"

"Tom, what are these marks and what do they mean?"

Tom fidgeted around nervously, then said, "Well, I guess since we escaped too soon for you to get the orientation video, I'll have to do my best. You see, the people who come here like us stay normal for around a day or two, then they get these Marks, which tell you which type you're going to be-"

Luke tried to interrupt but Tom just said "I'm not done explaining yet, and it'll probably make a bit more sense then. So, the Marks tell you what type you're going to be, and after that, when certain conditions are met, you actually… change… into a Pokemon."

Tom's voice got quieter as he went on so that by the time he said "change" he was mumbling, and the word "Pokemon" was practically a whisper.

"You actually…. what?" Said Luke in disbelief.

"Change into a Pokemon." Said Tom, trying to sound casual and failing utterly. "And you can tell what type you'll be and therefore what conditions you'll need… sort of…. from your Mark."

"Sort of?" Asked Luke quizzically.

"Well," Answered Tom, "You won't have a problem, because Dark type doesn't share a symbol with anything else. But my Mark could mean Rock, Ground, or Fighting type, and I'll have no idea which I'll be until it happens."

Luke drew in breath sharply. "Unlucky, I guess."

"Yeah." Said Tom, sounding a bit downcast. "But hey," He said, brightening up considerably, "I guess that means there's more to choose from."

Luke smiled at the optimism. "Yeah, I guess so. Anything else about this stuff I should know? Like when you turn back?"

Tom's face darkened a bit. "See, the first time you transform, it has to be with special conditions based on your type, and you have to turn back within 2 hours of it or you go wild and lose your memory and everything. I've seen it happen. But the woman, Mrs Hemlock, she kept telling everyone that if they turned back before the 2 hour mark, then they'd lose the power completely. Most people don't listen to her, but every now and then, some idiot does, and it reminds everyone else not to trust her. EVER." He shivered a bit at the thought, then brightened up a bit. "But if you don't screw up the first time, there's no limits on anything you do afterwards. So you could technically spend years as one form, or switch every few seconds, for the rest of your life, and not lose it."

"Well that's some good news." Said Luke. "So do you know any of the conditions?"

Tom hesitated for a moment as he thought about it. "Well Dark type is something to do with shadows, I think, Ground type is being mostly underground, for Rock type I have no idea, and I think Fighting types just have to get into a fight."

Luke smiled. _We'll be switching back and forth in no time!_ But then he heard footsteps and voices coming their way.

"Quick, back in the tree." He hissed to Tom, who had turned pale. They both dived for the tree roots and got under cover not a moment too soon, as Mrs. Hemlock herself appeared from the undergrowth smiling wickedly.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," She said in a singsong voice that sounded as though it was coated in syrup. "I know you're here somewhere, Thomas and Lycaon, because I see two marks here on the grass, and you're the only two who haven't come back yet." The pair looked at each other in shock. How had she found them?

"Come now boys, I really would hate to ruin this lovely scenery, but I will get Gothitelle to destroy it all if you don't come out in the next three seconds. One." The boys looked at each other, then around at the clearing. It was probably home to dozens of Pokemon, and they couldn't let it be destroyed. "Two." They looked at each other in silence and nodded, but as they prepared to come out from hiding, another woman, dressed in dark green, walked into the clearing, looked straight at Mrs. Hemlock, and said "If you so much as touch a single blade of grass in this clearing, I will personally blast you and your Pokemon all the way to Mistralton City." The boys grinned at each other as they saw Mrs. Hemlock turn a strange shade of purple while gritting her teeth and looking at the woman with a stare that seemed to say, "If looks could kill, you would be a smoking crater by now."

"Fine," Mrs. Hemlock eventually spat out, "But I will get those kids eventually." And with that, she turned around and walked right back the way she came.

The other woman smiled. "Alright, she's gone, you can come out of the tree now."

The pair finally clambered out of the tree. "Thanks" Said Luke. "But who are you?"

The woman hesitated, then said "That can wait 'till we're back at my caravan. For now, all you need to know is that I help people like you who have escaped from there and that Hemlock was lying when she said she'd found everyone else. Now come on. It's not far, but I left the other two there to come get you and they seem bent on getting into trouble no matter what I say." She sighed. "This way."

* * *

The woman's caravan was actually pretty big inside, so that Luke and Tom had no problems with space as they sat down opposite a girl with tanned skin, short black hair tied into a ponytail with a red scrunchie, brown eyes, wearing blue pants and a blue shirt over a black vest, who looked about their age and a boy with less of a tan, short, messy brown hair, eyes the colour of a stormy sky, wearing a black, buttoned shirt with the sleeves rolled up, faded jeans and a silver watch on his left wrist who looked a bit older.

The girl started the ball rolling by asking the woman "OK, now that you've brought us here, can you please explain what's going on here?"

The woman looked exasperated as she said "If you had been paying attention for more than a few seconds, Serenity, you'd have noticed that I'm busy making lunch for all of you, since you seem famished."

Right on cue, Luke's stomach rumbled.

"So while I'm doing that," Said the woman, "Why don't you four get acquainted with each other?"

"All right," Grumbled the girl, Serenity, "I'm Serenity Bell Alexander, I'm 13, I'm from Jacksonville, Florida, and my Mark," Here she held up her hand, showing everyone the yellow circle with black lightning bolt in the middle of it, "Is Electric type."

"My name's Kenta Hammer." Said the boy. "I'm 15, from LA, California. My Mark, (Holding up his hand) is Fighting, Ground, or Rock type."

Tom was next. "My name's Tom Hawthorne, I'm 10, from Eastport, Maine, and my Mark is the same as Kenta's."

Finally, it was Luke's turn. "I'm Luke Ward, I'm 12, from Baltimore, Maryland, and my Mark is Dark type."

There was silence for a few seconds, then Serenity, who didn't seem very serene to Luke, said to the woman "Alright, we've introduced ourselves. Now why don't you do the same?"

The woman looked up from a pile of sandwiches and said, "I'm still busy, Serenity. Surely there must be something else for you four to talk about until lunch is ready."

Serenity didn't miss a beat, groaned in exasperation, then decided to pour out her life story.

"I've lived in Florida my whole life, my parents were average, boring people, with average boring jobs, and average, boring lives, who wanted me to be just as average and boring as they were because I didn't have any siblings they could try to model into model citizens. I smashed that expectation, and most of the rest. I got into everything i could that wouldn't please my parents or kill me, which included Pokemon. I bought a half-price copy of Pokemon White that was zapped by lightning in the factory or something, and ended up back there at the 'facility' when I played it. I set off the fire alarm because I was getting sick of the place and wanted out, but I could see that no-one else was going to do squat about it. I ran for a while, bumped into Kenta, got invited in by this woman and spent the night here. When I woke up, she was gone, with a note saying she'd gone out to get some more kids, then she came back with you two." She looked around at everyone else. "OK, who's next?"

Tom decided to go for it, despite looking nervous.

"My family and I have moved around a lot, since my dad was- _is _a property developer. He has to go wherever there's a big project, and he takes me and my family with him. There's me, my parents, my two sisters, one younger and one older, and a younger brother. We were never really short of much, but we were a big family, so we didn't get a whole lot either. I got the copy of Pokemon Black at a yard sale, started playing and ended up back there. I didn't mess up or get punished much, but like Serenity said, I got sick of it so I start-"

Right then, then the woman came back over with four plates loaded high with sandwiches and chips and cut off Tom with a cheery "Lunch is ready!"

* * *

After a delicious lunch, Serenity, as usual, was the first one talking.

"Well, we've told each other about ourselves a bit, but _you're_ still the big mystery here. So will you _finally _tell us your damn name!"

The woman smiled.

"I guess you have waited a while. Alright. My name is Zoe."

Serenity tried to cut in, but Zoe stopped her.

"And I'm also not what I seem to be."

This was met with confusion for a second before the woman glowed purple for a moment. When she stopped glowing, in her place was undoubtedly a Pokemon. She was around as tall as she used to be, her hair was red with black tips and had what looked like a green bead near the end of it, with more black hair around that area. She had grey-black fur all over which formed a tuft around her torso. She had three red claws on each hand, and three on each foot. Her ears were pointed, and so was her muzzle.

Tom, surprisingly, was the first to react. "Y-y-you're a z-z-z-"

Zoe smiled and said "Zoro, zoro zoroark."

Which, in everyone's heads, also sounded like, "Yes, Tom, I'm a zoroark

* * *

On a massive ferry bound for Castelia City in Unova, Lauren Fithars watched the setting sun.

_"Well"_ She thought, _"I wonder what Unova will be like."_

* * *

**Well, what did you all think? Please read & review, etc.**

**Until next time, which will hopefully not be in 3 months plus, Lucario out!**


	4. Enter the Admins

**Dear Arceus, I am sorry for my record-breaking absence. I don't even have an excuse besides ****continuous procrastination and writer's block.**

**But the good news is that now I have both a Plotline and a Beta-Reader. Thank you to Lucarioninetales for that.**

**Onto the reviews:**

**Species Unknown: Thanks, I will. Even if it's not very often.**

**Mr 001: Thanks.**

**trainer bubbles: Thanks, I might be able to use your OC in later chapters, but for now, we'll stick with what we've got.**

**HazelFireSky: Sorry to keep you waiting. Enjoy :)**

**Tanon: I've fixed the infodump(Sorry for not spotting it earlier) and thanks for the tips. I'll keep it in mind.**

**AliceTheBloodyRabbit: Agreed on the updates. Agreed on the info dump(fixed). I wasn't in a rush, I was just tired and forgot to reread it. Sorry. And Mrs. Hemlock is evil because she's evil.**

**Dustchu: Thanks. Not dead, just semi-unconscious.**

**Shaystorm: Thanks.**

**Besides the above edit of the infodump, there were some grammar/spelling issues, not least in Ch1 where apparently I'd forgotten to change one instance of Leo's name from the original 'Roy' and it stood there unnoticed up until recently.**

**All that aside, Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Enter the Admins**

* * *

_'These meetings just go on forever.'_ Thought Sean Loredan, as he watched uninterestedly while his dad, Head Administrator Temrai Loredan, gave the usual dull orientation speech to the new recruits. Sean glanced at the clock on the wall nearest him during a pause in the speech, when those seated at the table were allowed to relax for a moment and digest what they had just heard.

_'11:53'_ He sighed in relief. _'Only 7 more minutes to go.'_

At the head of the table, Admin Loredan finished by saying "Well, that concludes the orientation. If any of you still have some questions, now is the time to ask them."

Sean rolled his eyes. He had been to so many of these pointlessly long speeches that he could predict exactly which questions were going to be asked. _'Someone who didn't listen at the start will lead with "But how are we in a video game?", follow it with "And why can't we leave? Why do we have to stay here? What about our families?" and finish in a massive riot with everyone trying unsuccessfully to be heard.'_

Sure enough, the first question asked was a tall, thin man with brown hair saying "So... We're in a video game?"

Loredan smiled tiredly, like someone who is being asked a question for the hundredth time. "Yes, Venart, we're in a video game. Or rather, two video games, Pokemon Black and Pokemon White to be precise."

"But... how? I thought video games were... well... just games. Not whole other worlds that we could actually go to."

Loredan sighed. "Well. Would someone who was paying attention please answer Mr. Langley's question? Vetriz, he is your brother, perhaps you could do the honours?"

Vetriz, a tall, thin woman with darker brown hair than her brother Venart, looked up from her notebook for a moment, then looked back down at it before speaking. "Well, I don't understand quite how we got here, but the reason it's possible at all only makes sense if you change the way you think about video games. Rather than viewing them as unimportant things of no consequence, mass-produced and sold identically to people, view them as windows into another world. This world, actually. All we've done to get here is open that window and climb through it." She said, all in a single breath.

Venart looked embarrassed, but pressed on. "All right, let's accept that we've climbed in an open window into a video game world. Can we climb out again?"

Loredan sighed again. "Unfortunately, it's not quite that easy, Mr. Langley. You recall that a Mark appeared on your hand upon your arrival? Yes, that one. Well, while our main duty as Administrators is to prevent unauthorised people from entering this world accidentally and to maintain the purity of the game, our secondary duty is to prevent not only them, but anyone with a Mark, from going back to our world." The uproar from those assembled was deafening. "THE REASON BEING," Loredan continued at a shout, "TO PREVENT ANYONE FROM UPSETTING THE BALANCE OF THE WORLD WE CAME FROM BY USING THEIR MARK WHILST THERE!"

The uproar died down. "And what would happen if we did?" Asked Venart, always inquisitive.

Loredan's face was grim. "It would be absolute chaos. Can you imagine the consequences to our world of groups of people suddenly able to understand animals and transform into creatures never before seen on Earth, most of which defy or actively break the laws that govern our universe? If you can think of a beneficial end to that with a realistic chance of happening, feel free to let me know. So unless you were to remove your Mark, a feat which has so far been impossible without simultaneously removing all memories of this place, you cannot go back."

Sean stared at the clock, willing it to cover those last few seconds before he died of boredom.

"And sir-"

Whatever that random person had been about to say was cut off by a loud buzzer.

"Ah, time for lunch break!" Exclaimed Loredan. "Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the orientation. If you have any further questions, please consult the PDA which you will receive on the way out of this room. Adieu!"

Sean got up, stretched, and walked out after his dad, glaring at him.

"I still don't see why I should have to sit through that every time. It's hardly changed since the first time and it's getting really boring."

Loredan glanced back. "Sean, we were the first family to come here as Admins. You're going to take over at some point, and you need to know how to handle yourself in front of initiates."

Sean rolled his eyes. That speech hadn't changed since the first time he'd heard it either.

* * *

After the bombshell that Zoe was in fact a Zoroark had subsided, Serenity immediately rounded on Tom. "How did you know what species she was just from looking if you got zapped in here without a chance to even play the game?"

Tom looked uncomfortable but replied "I researched everything I could about the new games before they came out so I'd have an idea of where to go and what to expect. I'm pretty sure the place we're in now is called Lostlorn Forest. It's just off Route 15, and it's not too far to Nimbasa City from there."

Serenity opened her mouth to say something, but Kenta beat her to it, saying "If you know all about the region, then what the hell was the place we just left?"

Tom thought for a minute. "Well, if we came from that way without passing a route, and we went over the river... that would make it the Pokemon Transfer Lab."

"The what?"

"The Pokemon Transfer Lab. It's how you transfer Pokemon from older generation games to the new ones. It's like the Pal Park."

This seemed to satisfy both Kenta and Serenity, for the moment at least, and that was enough time for Zoe to announce that if they were leaving, she had some presents for them. "It's standard trainer stuff." She said. "There's your Xtransceivers, to stay in touch with each other, your belt holsters, to hold Poke Balls, and your DSD, or Digital Storage Device, to hold any items you find along the way."

"Digital Storage, huh?" Luke remarked. "Well, that explains how you could theoretically carry around 999 of everything in existence at once."

"It does indeed, and I've stocked them with some Potions, Antidotes, sandwiches, Berries and other useful items." Replied Zoe cheerfully.

"Now, if you're ready to go, there's just one last thing I want to discuss with you, and that's your Marks. You probably all know that each Mark needs a specific event to trigger it and initiate your first change. What you probably don't know is what those events are." She turned to face Tom and Kenta. "Your Marks can mean either Fighting, Ground, or Rock type. The events for those types are high adrenaline levels, being partially buried alive, or eating rocks respectively. I recommend you try them in that order." She faced Serenity, who had been trying unsuccessfully to interject for a while. "Your Mark is Electric type, meaning that your condition is to be struck by lightning." Finally, she turned to face Luke, ignoring Serenity's attempts to get her attention. "And your Mark is Dark type. Therefore, your condition is simply to see a full or new moon at midnight."

In the momentary pause that followed, Serenity was finally able to get out her question: "But how do you even have this stuff in the first place?"

Zoe smiled cryptically. "That, Serenity, is a secret. For now, at least."

"Well, thanks for everything, Zoe!" said Tom, clearly in a hurry to leave. "See you later!"

And off they went, Serenity complaining the whole way.

* * *

As Sean trailed behind the newest group of initiates on the way to yet another boring lecture, a siren suddenly rang out, causing everyone present to jump.

"S-sir," Venart stuttered, "W-what d-does that m-mean?"

Loredan assumed a practised poker face, giving nothing away.

"That, Venart, is the alert that means that one or more unauthorised presences have been detected somewhere in Unova. It is also the signal for the team on duty to go find these intruders and apprehend them by whatever means necessary."

He turned to Sean.

"You have so far showed no interest in the administrative side of the business. Perhaps you will show some more interest in the practical side of things. Go with the team and watch them at work." He sighed. "You may not make Head Admin, but at least you could be a Head Operative. Do not let me down."

Sean blinked in surprise. "Uh, sure thing, I guess."

* * *

Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of their impending doom, Luke and the others had just reached Route 16 from Lostlorn Forest.

As she had been doing periodically, Serenity pounced on Tom yet again.

"So which way now, brainiac?"

Tom thought for a moment, then replied "Right."

"Alright then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Yelled Serenity.

Who then promptly ran headlong into a police officer, knocking him over.

Serenity picked herself up, looking pale.

"Now missy," The man said, getting up quickly despite his size, "I can understand that you're probably excited to get to Nimbasa City, but you need to watch where you're going. This is a popular spot for cyclists and if you'd run into one of them like that, someone would probably have wound up in hospital."

By this point, Serenity looked like she wanted to disappear. Or more specifically, as she glanced over her shoulder, like she wanted Tom to disappear for not telling her there were policemen on this Route.

"Now, I'll let you off with a warning this time missy, but you'd do best to be more careful. You hear?"

Serenity nodded quietly.

"And that goes for the rest of you kids too. Besides that, I'd say enjoy Nimbasa."

And with that, he walked off, leaving the group walking noticably more slowly towards Nimbasa.

* * *

As Sean watched the operatives gear up for the mission, he noticed that they were taking virtually no equipment with them. When he asked, they glanced at each other and started struggling not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Sean asked?

"You don't really get how this works, do you?" Said the lead Operative for the mission.

"Obviously not, since you're laughing like hyenas, so why don't you explain it?"

"Fine, fine. We don't wear uniform or protective gear or anything because the point is to _blend in, _and uniforms and weapons don't tend to help with that. Secondly, we're not taking much equipment because we don't _need_ that much equipment. This-" He held up a disk that looked a lot like a TM "-is a modified TM that wipes all memories of this world from someone and puts them into a coma. We go in, unnoticed, and wait untill noone will see us use it. We put them into a coma, they get sent to hospital, we fake a transfer to bring them to base, where we remove their Marks, if they have them, and send them home. The second part will use a bit more equipment, but for now, we're good to go."

* * *

"WHADDYA MEAN, WHAT PLAN!"

Serenity's voice rang out over Nimbasa city, causing flocks of Pidove to fly off in fright.

"Well, uh, you asked where the nearest town was, and I told you. I thought you had some kind of plan."

Luke and Kenta stood off to one side of the deserted alley they were in, watching as Serenity and Tom got into an argument. Which started by Serenity asking Tom what the plan was, and Tom apparently not having one.

"YOU GAVE THE DIRECTIONS, YOU COULD HAVE LED US SOMEWHERE USEFUL!"

"This is the closest place to where we were. You want to keep walking for another day?"

"THAT'S IT!" Serenity, apparently enraged by the use of logic, charged at Tom and swung a punch that, if it connected, probably would have taken Tom's head off. Luke and Kenta rushed forwards, having realised too late what was going to happen. But it didn't matter, because Serenity's haymaker never connected. Because when it was a split second from Tom's face, he disappeared. Serenity, unable to stop, found herself tripping over a small cream-and-red coloured Pokemon. She got back up quickly, looking around for Tom and not seeing the Pokemon at her feet.

Luke however, did. "Tom?"

'Tom' let go of his head and looked around. "Why is everything so big?"

It was Kenta who replied. "Because, Tom, you seem to have activated your Mark."

"Wait, WHAT?"

Tom looked down at himself. He saw a small, cream-coloured body with short, red legs, red arms with cream-coloured paws, and when he looked behind him, he saw a cream-coloured, red-tipped tail. He put his paws to his face and felt a muzzle and that his ears were now at the top of his head. He closed his eyes and started taking deep, shaking breaths, trying not to panic. When he looked around again, he saw his friends looking back, worried(Though Serenity was doing a good job of hiding it.)

"So, what exactly are you now, peabrain?" Said Serenity, with her usual tact.

"I.. I think I'm a-"

Tom was cut off by a robotic voice from the end of the alley.

"**Mienfoo. The Martial Arts Pokemon. In fights, they dominate with onslaughts of flowing, continuous attacks. With their sharp claws, they cut enemies. They have mastered elegant combos. As they concentrate, their battle moves become swifter and more precise."**

"Cool." A young voice rang out from the same place, as everyone turned to look. "A Mienfoo, huh? I thought they were only around Victory Ro-"

The boy cut off his sentence when he saw Luke. Not surprising, since they were virtually identical.

* * *

Sean looked out of the helicopter window at the waves below.

"_I hate air travel. I always get motion sickness."_ "ETA, anyone?"

"Roughly twenty-five minutes, _sir."_

He sighed. _"At least we'll be there soon."_

* * *

The identical kids stood stock-still staring at each other for about five seconds before Serenity broke the silence.

"Who are you and why do you look exactly like Luke?"

The other kid gave a start.

"I'm Hilbert. And if you don't know why I look the same as... as Luke, then I guess that puts us on the same page, since I don't know either."

A high-pitched, worried voice rang out.

"Hilbert, where the hell did you go? The show starts in four minutes!"

Hilbert went pale. He dashed down the alley and dived behind a Dumpster.

"You! Luke! You'd better hide too! If she sees you, she'll drag you along, and she won't take no for an answer!" Hilbert whispered from his hiding-spot.

Luke, his mind filled with images of Mrs. Hemlock-like women abducting him to wherever they were going, dived behind the same Dumpster.

"Yoohoo, Hilbert, are you down here?"

Luke didn't dare to look. Kenta, Serenity and Tom(Still a Mienfoo) did though, and they were surprised at what they saw. The person wasn't a Mrs. Hemlock-ish person. At least not by sight. The person they saw was a young teenaged girl with a green beret, a green handbag, and a white dress under an orange shirt.

"Oh, hi. Sorry to disturb you, but have you seen a kid with a blue shirt, a red-and-black hat and black pants run down here? His name's Hilbert, and we're supposed to be going to a musical together at the theatre, only he keeps running off and getting himself into battles. No? Sorry to bother you."

As the cries of "Hilbeeeeert, where aaaaaaare youuuuuuu?" faded a bit, Hilbert came out from hiding.

"Is she gone? Oh thank Arceus. Uh, and thank you guys for not telling her I was here. Those musicals are just death by boredom. I have no idea what she sees in them. Uh, I'll be going now. She's checked the Pokemon Center already, so I can hide there for a while. Bye."

And with that, he ran off, leaving the group blinking in confusion as to what the hell just happened.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they were in the theme park in the south of Nimbasa. Serenity had asked Tom what exactly there _was_ in Nimbasa once he turned back, and after a list of stadiums and events and random stuff, he mentioned that, oh yeah, the Gym is in a theme park. The Gym wasn't operating as a Gym because there were no challengers that day, so the roller coasters were free. The group was basically relaxing and having fun.

Then it all went to hell. Luke, who had been sitting on a bench relaxing, heard Kenta yelling and saw him running away from the ferris wheel chased by a random guy wearing a black and orange jumpsuit holding something small that Luke couldn't really see. Serenity and Tom, who had been on the roller coasters, came out of the Gym building running in the opposite direction followed by a girl in a pink dress and a limping boy in a grey outfit, each holding similar objects. Without thinking, Luke got up and ran to help his friends. Figuring Tom and Serenity would be fine since Tom could turn into a Mienfoo, Luke ran for Kenta. When he got closer, Kenta said breathlessly, "Don't let him hit you with that thing. He barely touched the person I was standing next to with it when I ducked, but they were KO'd straight away."

Luke tried not to panic as the jumpsuit guy got closer, squaring up for a fight, when suddenly- "LEAVE THEM ALONE YOU CREEP!" -a bolt of lightning came from the left and as the guy half-turned to see what was happening, it hit him dead on. He flew a few feet back and landed in a bush. Luke and Kenta turned to see that their saviour was a little yellow mouse with red spots on its cheeks and a lightning-bolt shaped tail. It was a Pikachu, the mascot of the Pokemon series. And alongside it was a familiar Mienfoo, now sporting a black eye.

The guy in the bush got up, groaning. When he saw that he was outnumbered four-to-one and that the lightning-bolt had seemingly melted the device he was holding, he went pale, then ran off as fast as he could, muttering to himself the whole way.

Luke and Kenta stared at the Pikachu. "Serenity?" Kenta said in disbelief.

"Nooooo, I'm just a random Pikachu that happened to be wandering around." She said sarcastically. "Of course it's me, blockhead."

"Any chance you're going to tell us how exactly that happened?"

"Yeah, but not here. This is too public. We need a place to stay the night anyway. And Walking Wikipedia here says that we can apparently stay the night in a Pokemon Centre for free, so allons-y!"

And with that she turned back and started walking out of the park. The rest of them turned to look at each other, then shrugged and started walking after her.

* * *

"So, I take it the mission didn't go _entirely_ according to plan?"

Sean looked over the three faces giving him venomous looks. One, the girl, was severely bruised, while the others looked like they'd stuck their fingers in light sockets. The 'ace trainer' sighed.

"Not _entirely, _no. Those kids have more power than I thought they'd have at this stage. Normally it takes about a week or so of practise with a Pokemon form until you get that good. Those kids..." He sighed again. "We need to retreat for now, rethink our tactics, get backup, and go after them again before they disrupt anything too much."

Sean smirked. "And before all that, you need to file a report with my dad."

The operative turned pale and gulped. He was _not_ looking forward to this.

* * *

Later that night, in the Nimbasa Pokemon Center, Serenity finally decided to tell the others what had happened.(Having kept Tom quiet with threats to shock him into oblivion) "Well, we were in the Gym, when that creep with the grey outfit decided to sneak up on me without realising I could see him perfectly in the glass of the roller coaster pod in front of me. I turned around and kicked him where it hurts and ran like hell. Turns out Tom had the same sort of experience with another creep, so we ran out of there as quick as we could. The creeps caught up with us fairly quick though, and when Tom turned into his rat-thing-"

Tom interjected. "Serenity, it's called a Mienfoo. And your Pikachu form is closer to a rat than that."

Serenity went on, unperturbed. "His Mienfoo form then, and went Rocky Balboa on that kid. THe guy I'd kicked between the legs decided it'd be a good idea to pin me up against the wall before he did whatever, but that was a bad move 'cause he stuck me right on the circuit breaker box. So I got a static shock and turned into Pikachu, and he got the electricity from it and got a new haircut. Then we ran around the corner and saw you guys, and I just focused and blasted the guy."

There was a period of silence where no-one could think of anything to say. Then Luke did a double-take out the window, then looked hastily down at his watch, which made Serenity start smirking.

"Serenity, why do you have that look on your face?" Asked Luke nervously.

"Because I checked the lunar phase with the nurse before we checked in. We won't have a new moon for at least two or three more days." Said Serenity, smirk growing the whole time.

Luke sighed and just fell back on the bed.

"Well, goodnight then."

"Goodnight"

"'Night"

"Goodnight"

* * *

In her cabin on the ferry, Lauren was going to sleep too. _"Unova tomorrow."_

She thought as she drifted off.

* * *

**So, what do you think?**

**Any questions, feel free to put them in the reviews and I'll try to answer them next time I update, which hopefully will not be in- how long ****was it, nine months? - that long anyway.**

**Until next time, Lucario Out!**


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